Hacienda Tres Rios Brides Post Here!

[Future Mrs. M]

When you get there talk to the concierge! We were able to get dinner reservations for 30 people at the lobster restaurant by the pool:)

The other restaurants may not be flexible like that but the lobster one is!! And they should def. not charge you extra for that. The only time they should charge extra is like your welcome party and the wedding itself.
 

Originally Posted by becks1581 

Thank you Brooke!  Your wedding sounded amazing!  I think that I saw your mom's review on TripAdvisor and I was so happy to see the great review and hear that all of you guests loved the resort.

 

I am getting married at HTR on May 7...right around the corner!  We are doing a beach BBQ on Thurs night and having the wedding on Saturday. 

 

I have a quick question for you...Did the resort charge you the $20 per person private event fee for the cocktail reception?  On Friday night we were planning to make a dinner reservation with our family and bridal party (20 people) but Allibe just told me that the resort will only make a reservation for 10 so I'm brainstorming the options for that evening!

 

Thanks and I'd LOVE to see any pics that you have.  I'll PM you my email address.

 

 

 

[LeanneMarie]

Hi there  I just finished a weekend of site inspections with a bride & groom who are getting married in May 2012.  They've chosen HTR, which, I'm super excited about because I love the resort.  Their eco friendly practices are awesome, and all the staff was amazing.

 

I'm curious if any of you hosted your ceremony at the palapa over where the rivers meet the ocean?  That is where we are thinking to set up and we would love some photos or ideas!!!  Send links if you have some !!!

 

Also, for your above question, it's pretty typical to tip about 10% to your vendors.  Most of the time I definitely tip the hairdresser & make up artist and musicians if you have any, and then it varies for the photographer & videographer.

 

Cheers,

Leanne

[Eadon216]

 

Wedding

I have to say that everything went flawlessly the day of the wedding. We had a very simple wedding in comparison to others that I’m sure have been held at the resort (in fact a week later, the day before we left we saw another wedding and it was much larger and more complicated than ours). Our ceremony was held at 5pm on the beach and our reception was on the Martini Terrace. Two days before our wedding Allibe took my husband and I to each spot and made sure that everything would be as we wanted it. We made a few adjustments (I wanted to face the ocean rather than the cenote, and we moved the dinner table spot down more toward Casa Las Islas rather than Kotori for more privacy as Casa Las Islas would not be open for dinner that night). Everything was no problem. Allibe also showed us a sample of what the flowers would look like to make sure they would be the correct color. I’m sure if we had travelled down before hand all of this would have been done months ago. However we were on a strict budget. But, really, it was not a big deal taking care of it a couple days before. And even not doing a tasting ended up not being an issue (which I knew it wouldn’t be. We had been to the resort a year and a half ago so I knew the food was good quality).

Having a 5pm ceremony meant I had most of the day to relax. Alexandro came around 1:30pm to do my mom’s hair and makeup. He was great, but I really wish he had an assistant as we ran really late. He did my mom’s hair and makeup first and wow did he do a great job! She was really pleased and so was I. Once she was taken care of he worked on me. I showed him my ideas. Apparently I chose styles for much shorter hair, but he took my inspirations and made it work. I loved what he did. He offered advice and opinions. I had a headband that I was planning on wearing like a headband, but he convinced me to wear it further back - around the hairstyle at the back of my head. I liked the idea and went with it. It came out perfectly!

Unfortunately because we were running late we had to rush down to the ceremony. Luckily you can’t start without the bride. But everything was ready and it looked so fantastic. Allibe had taken our sand ceremony kit the day before and it was set up on the altar with placement of gorgeous flowers. The minister did a great job. I loved that we could have our own readings and say our own vows (I just wish I hadn’t forgotten mine up in the hotel room. If I could have changed one thing it would have been to give our vows to the minister before hand for her to have down there for us).

After we walked down the aisle the H3Rios staff had sparkling wine for us and our guests. We toasted and took pictures.

Our dinner reception was amazing as well. Everyone raved about the food! We had Tlaxcalteca soup which is a tortilla soup and was so creamy and good. I highly recommend it. For the main course we had the Hacienda chicken which is chicken stuffed with spinach covered in a coriander sauce. This was also really delicious. There was also a dessert course with various desserts. Some were great and others required a different palate than mine.

The cake, however, was awesome! Again, we didn’t do a tasting first. In fact, I don’t remember even picking a flavor! But it ended up being ok. And again, our guests loved it. I had some picky guests too. My sister is a notorious picky eater. Most times I only see her eat pasta. And my Matron of Honor’s husband is a strict meat and potato guy. He was proud that he ate the spinach with the chicken- and liked it!

Another word about the food. My grandfather has a pretty severe case of Celiac’s disease. This means he can’t eat anything with gluten (wheat) in it. he is also lactose intolerant. It makes it pretty difficult to eat at home let alone when traveling. I talked to Allibe about it several times and sent her a list of what he can/can’t eat. She passed this on to the kitchen and talked to them about it. Then when my grandparents arrived she talked to them in person. The kitchen made all of my grandfather’s specially for him. He had no problems at all! It was fantastic! I was really impressed. I think the only times he encountered problems was at the brunch buffet, but that was because no one was cooking things specifically for him. They really did a great job at accommodating him and this helped to ease my mind.

I really enjoyed everything they did for us for our wedding. I felt very special. I do wish that they did something special to our room. But I think you have to pay for that (which is a little crazy).

A few pictures:

goo.gl/FyQlU

goo.gl/a08EP

goo.gl/g7SVO

goo.gl/5aiGA

goo.gl/45spo

goo.gl/sciNe

goo.gl/11hNj

My Vendors

My Photographer was Sascha Gluck. I haven’t gotten my photos back yet, but I love everything I’ve seen on his website. I think they’re going to be great. He was fantastic to work with on the day. When the sun was in our eyes to much he found ways to help us out to ensure that our eyes would be squinty in our photos. He was very personable and I felt really comfortable around him.

Our videographer was Mike Cantarell of Cancun Video. Again I haven’t gotten the video. I also can’t say much as our videographer Jerry was very quiet on the day. We didn’t receive much direction from him. But that’s a good thing I guess as he pretty much is supposed to follow us around.

Hair and makeup was by Alexandro Zavala. Like I said, he was great! No complaints! He did a great job and I liked working with him! If only he could do my hair and makeup every day.

Hacienda Tres Rios

I really can’t say enough great things about this resort. My husband and I first came to H3Rios in November 2009 because I had won a trip for 4 days/3 nights. It was here that he proposed to me! We loved the resort then and we love it now. The great thing about Hacienda Tres Rios is that you have the option of lounging by the pool or going off and participating in any of the activities going on throughout the day. We did the Jaguar Tour (considered advanced) twice (which is a trip to the nursery where you learn about their eco practicies, snorkeling in the cenote, and kayaking up and down the cenote) and the Tigrillo Tour (considered intermediate) once (trip to nursery where we actually learned a few new things, snorkeling, and the option to either kayak down the cenote or snorkel down - we love to snorkel down and we saw a lot of cool fish and crabs). They take pictures of you as you go along which you have the option of buying (they can get a little pricey, but make great souvenirs). One of the less publicized activities is the Sense Adventure. We also did this last time we came. For some reason it isn’t prominent on the program. Last time we came we also did the Sense Adventure and has so much fun we did it again this trip. It’s very meditative and definitely something different. Be open minded!

Even if you don’t do any of the activities relaxing by the pool or beach is an activity all in itself. The pool water is always beautiful and clean. They take great care in keeping the area clean. We never had a problem finding a lounge chair or a good spot to relax. In fact, there are tons of hidden gems all over the resort. One day you’ll be taking a walk over a bridge and find a new spot with hammocks! There was only one day towards the end of our stay when the resort had filled up with more people when we had trouble finding and umbrella. In the meantime we found shade under palm trees - still not a bad deal.

The service of the staff is also really amazing at Tres Rios. Since our last visit they added a small bar down by the kids pool. This definitely helped service. Actually we found that we got better/faster service down by the kids pool than we did up by the adult pool. But really, it’s not a tough life when someone brings you food and drinks right to your lounge chair. Service was also great in the restaurants. Our favorite waiter was Oscar. We saw him all over the resort, and he always went out of his way to make sure we were having a great time and had everything we needed. I believe he worked at our wedding. He was always smiling!

I really could keep going on and on. There’s so much to talk about. The room was great (we had a jacuzzi - I recommend it). I love turn down service; it’s a nice touch that I wish happened every night. The Patissiere is yum and Marco helped put together a great cup of chai. The one tiny complaint I have is that there is no casual restaurant. There are families that come to H3Rios and every restaurant at the resort serves fancy foods. I feel that a restaurant with a more casual atmosphere and casual foods would be a good addition. It would be a good place for families to go so that their kids could run around the table and not bother other guests. It would also give the other people eating there the expectation that this may happen. The buffet is a good example of this, but it isn’t open every night of the week. Besides that little complaint (and really, it is tiny because it occurred to my husband and I maybe twice) everything else is wonderful. Our guests kept raving about what a great time they had and how they didn’t want to leave. My brother-in-law called the resort “swank†and the staff really does know how to make you feel pampered. Go for a massage and that will definitely make the experience!

We can’t wait to (hopefully!) go back for our anniversary.

[damitAPRILurCOOL]

Yay! Thanks for sharing your review!  Congratulations on getting married!!
 

Originally Posted by Eadon216 

 

Wedding

I have to say that everything went flawlessly the day of the wedding. We had a very simple wedding in comparison to others that I’m sure have been held at the resort (in fact a week later, the day before we left we saw another wedding and it was much larger and more complicated than ours). Our ceremony was held at 5pm on the beach and our reception was on the Martini Terrace. Two days before our wedding Allibe took my husband and I to each spot and made sure that everything would be as we wanted it. We made a few adjustments (I wanted to face the ocean rather than the cenote, and we moved the dinner table spot down more toward Casa Las Islas rather than Kotori for more privacy as Casa Las Islas would not be open for dinner that night). Everything was no problem. Allibe also showed us a sample of what the flowers would look like to make sure they would be the correct color. I’m sure if we had travelled down before hand all of this would have been done months ago. However we were on a strict budget. But, really, it was not a big deal taking care of it a couple days before. And even not doing a tasting ended up not being an issue (which I knew it wouldn’t be. We had been to the resort a year and a half ago so I knew the food was good quality).

Having a 5pm ceremony meant I had most of the day to relax. Alexandro came around 1:30pm to do my mom’s hair and makeup. He was great, but I really wish he had an assistant as we ran really late. He did my mom’s hair and makeup first and wow did he do a great job! She was really pleased and so was I. Once she was taken care of he worked on me. I showed him my ideas. Apparently I chose styles for much shorter hair, but he took my inspirations and made it work. I loved what he did. He offered advice and opinions. I had a headband that I was planning on wearing like a headband, but he convinced me to wear it further back - around the hairstyle at the back of my head. I liked the idea and went with it. It came out perfectly!

Unfortunately because we were running late we had to rush down to the ceremony. Luckily you can’t start without the bride. But everything was ready and it looked so fantastic. Allibe had taken our sand ceremony kit the day before and it was set up on the altar with placement of gorgeous flowers. The minister did a great job. I loved that we could have our own readings and say our own vows (I just wish I hadn’t forgotten mine up in the hotel room. If I could have changed one thing it would have been to give our vows to the minister before hand for her to have down there for us).

After we walked down the aisle the H3Rios staff had sparkling wine for us and our guests. We toasted and took pictures.

Our dinner reception was amazing as well. Everyone raved about the food! We had Tlaxcalteca soup which is a tortilla soup and was so creamy and good. I highly recommend it. For the main course we had the Hacienda chicken which is chicken stuffed with spinach covered in a coriander sauce. This was also really delicious. There was also a dessert course with various desserts. Some were great and others required a different palate than mine.

The cake, however, was awesome! Again, we didn’t do a tasting first. In fact, I don’t remember even picking a flavor! But it ended up being ok. And again, our guests loved it. I had some picky guests too. My sister is a notorious picky eater. Most times I only see her eat pasta. And my Matron of Honor’s husband is a strict meat and potato guy. He was proud that he ate the spinach with the chicken- and liked it!

Another word about the food. My grandfather has a pretty severe case of Celiac’s disease. This means he can’t eat anything with gluten (wheat) in it. he is also lactose intolerant. It makes it pretty difficult to eat at home let alone when traveling. I talked to Allibe about it several times and sent her a list of what he can/can’t eat. She passed this on to the kitchen and talked to them about it. Then when my grandparents arrived she talked to them in person. The kitchen made all of my grandfather’s specially for him. He had no problems at all! It was fantastic! I was really impressed. I think the only times he encountered problems was at the brunch buffet, but that was because no one was cooking things specifically for him. They really did a great job at accommodating him and this helped to ease my mind.

I really enjoyed everything they did for us for our wedding. I felt very special. I do wish that they did something special to our room. But I think you have to pay for that (which is a little crazy).

A few pictures:

goo.gl/FyQlU

goo.gl/a08EP

goo.gl/g7SVO

goo.gl/5aiGA

goo.gl/45spo

goo.gl/sciNe

goo.gl/11hNj

My Vendors

My Photographer was Sascha Gluck. I haven’t gotten my photos back yet, but I love everything I’ve seen on his website. I think they’re going to be great. He was fantastic to work with on the day. When the sun was in our eyes to much he found ways to help us out to ensure that our eyes would be squinty in our photos. He was very personable and I felt really comfortable around him.

Our videographer was Mike Cantarell of Cancun Video. Again I haven’t gotten the video. I also can’t say much as our videographer Jerry was very quiet on the day. We didn’t receive much direction from him. But that’s a good thing I guess as he pretty much is supposed to follow us around.

Hair and makeup was by Alexandro Zavala. Like I said, he was great! No complaints! He did a great job and I liked working with him! If only he could do my hair and makeup every day.

Hacienda Tres Rios

I really can’t say enough great things about this resort. My husband and I first came to H3Rios in November 2009 because I had won a trip for 4 days/3 nights. It was here that he proposed to me! We loved the resort then and we love it now. The great thing about Hacienda Tres Rios is that you have the option of lounging by the pool or going off and participating in any of the activities going on throughout the day. We did the Jaguar Tour (considered advanced) twice (which is a trip to the nursery where you learn about their eco practicies, snorkeling in the cenote, and kayaking up and down the cenote) and the Tigrillo Tour (considered intermediate) once (trip to nursery where we actually learned a few new things, snorkeling, and the option to either kayak down the cenote or snorkel down - we love to snorkel down and we saw a lot of cool fish and crabs). They take pictures of you as you go along which you have the option of buying (they can get a little pricey, but make great souvenirs). One of the less publicized activities is the Sense Adventure. We also did this last time we came. For some reason it isn’t prominent on the program. Last time we came we also did the Sense Adventure and has so much fun we did it again this trip. It’s very meditative and definitely something different. Be open minded!

Even if you don’t do any of the activities relaxing by the pool or beach is an activity all in itself. The pool water is always beautiful and clean. They take great care in keeping the area clean. We never had a problem finding a lounge chair or a good spot to relax. In fact, there are tons of hidden gems all over the resort. One day you’ll be taking a walk over a bridge and find a new spot with hammocks! There was only one day towards the end of our stay when the resort had filled up with more people when we had trouble finding and umbrella. In the meantime we found shade under palm trees - still not a bad deal.

The service of the staff is also really amazing at Tres Rios. Since our last visit they added a small bar down by the kids pool. This definitely helped service. Actually we found that we got better/faster service down by the kids pool than we did up by the adult pool. But really, it’s not a tough life when someone brings you food and drinks right to your lounge chair. Service was also great in the restaurants. Our favorite waiter was Oscar. We saw him all over the resort, and he always went out of his way to make sure we were having a great time and had everything we needed. I believe he worked at our wedding. He was always smiling!

I really could keep going on and on. There’s so much to talk about. The room was great (we had a jacuzzi - I recommend it). I love turn down service; it’s a nice touch that I wish happened every night. The Patissiere is yum and Marco helped put together a great cup of chai. The one tiny complaint I have is that there is no casual restaurant. There are families that come to H3Rios and every restaurant at the resort serves fancy foods. I feel that a restaurant with a more casual atmosphere and casual foods would be a good addition. It would be a good place for families to go so that their kids could run around the table and not bother other guests. It would also give the other people eating there the expectation that this may happen. The buffet is a good example of this, but it isn’t open every night of the week. Besides that little complaint (and really, it is tiny because it occurred to my husband and I maybe twice) everything else is wonderful. Our guests kept raving about what a great time they had and how they didn’t want to leave. My brother-in-law called the resort “swank†and the staff really does know how to make you feel pampered. Go for a massage and that will definitely make the experience!

We can’t wait to (hopefully!) go back for our anniversary.

 

[Samantha88k]

Eadon216 thanks for the review!!! It sounds like you had a beautiful wedding!! How many total guests did you have?

[Eadon216]

Only 12 total guests. Even with such a small number it got to be a little tough wrangling everyone together at times. But it was really great having such a small number. I felt like I really got to spend quality time with everyone.

[Samantha88k]

Hello ladies!! Has anyone heard how becks1581's wedding was??

[becks1581]

Hey!  I'm so sorry that I've been terrible about checking in on the forum since we got back.  Our wedding weekend was FANTASTIC and more than we could have hoped for.  I was really impressed with how organized and accommodating Allibe and Luis were.  We even decided to change our reception location to the pool (great decision) right before we arrived to Mexico and it was no problem.  Allibe set up meetings with all of our vendors on the Tuesday before the wedding and we settled all of the last minute details.  She also arranged to have linen and chair samples brought by and they were perfect.  We arranged to have our welcome bags left at the front desk each morning and they were given to our guests at check in (for no additional charge). 

 

Thursday night we had a beach barbeque at the volleyball court area.  Planner 1 did the decorations and we also had a surprise fire dancer show which was a big hit.  DJ Doremixx provided music and lighting.  We had 2 guests with birthdays that night and we were able to surprise them with cake and a birthday song.

 

Friday night--I was concerned about setting up a large party reservation.  I had to ask around a little bit when we first go there but the concierge finally put me into contact with Samuel who is one of the restaurant managers.  We had not problem setting up a reservation for 6pm (25ppl) at the Mexican restaurant.  This was a great location for the dinner.  The brought out several appetizers and we did a surf and turf for everyone to make it easier for the restaurant.  

 

Saturday--Wedding day!  Allibe and Luis did an fantastic job of having everything set up just how we envisioned!  The ceremony was gorgeous and the reception set up was more than I could have asked for.  We set up a 'shoe check' on the beach before the ceremony.  When the ceremony was done, everyone was immediately greeted with champagne.  We had a mariachi band start playing after 'the kiss' and then lead everyone from the beach to the pool for the cocktail hour.  I really recommend our vendors, especially DJ Doremixx for DJ!!!  We had the owner Ivan.  He met up with us on Tuesday to go over plans and totally KILLED IT at the wedding!!!  Clearly I'm biased, but I really think it was one of the best dance parties I've seen at a wedding.  You really can't beat ocean breeze, a light up dance floor (I was worried it would be cheesy but it's amazing!) and great music.  The HTR staff had a lot of fun with the reception too.  At one point, the DJ started playing that 'shot shot shot' song and then the waiters came out with 2-liters of blue tequila something...and started pouring it into guest's mouths.  LOL...even our aunts and uncles were taking part.  PLUS...nothing beats jumping in the pool during the last song of your wedding reception!  We had about 20 of our guests (including my husband and me) go for a swim in our wedding attire.  SO FUN!!!

 

I also really recommend our florist.  He was very reasonable and brought samples of everything to our meeting on Tuesday.  The chuppah was gorgeous too.  He was Marvin from Maya Diseno Floral.

 

So there are my random thoughts for now...there's a ton more and I'll post as things pop into my head.  Please ask any and all questions you have.  I'd love to help out and share my experience.  

I'll post a few pics.  I've you're interested in seeing more you can go to our photoshare site:   www.mykodakgallery.com

The email address is [email protected]

The password is:  MEXICO

 

We have a few professional pics too.  Go to www.terradawn.zenfolio.com.  You can click on Tillery Wedding to see some pro pics.

 

I'm so excited for everyone with their weddings still to come...I want to get married every year :-)

 

[becks1581]

[becks1581]